Folding shelf bracket



June 14, 1960 J. B. SHEAFFER FOLDING SHELF BRACKET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 10, 1958 IN VEN TOR.

JACK B. SHEA FFER ATTORNEY June 14, 1960 Filed Dec. 10, 1958 J. B. SHEAFFER FOLDING SHELF BRACKET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Lg-a FIG? l6 FIG. 6

INVENTOR.

JACK B. SHEAFFER ATTORNEY United States Patent FOLDING SHELF BRACKET Jack B. Sheaifer, 1542 N. Marston St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Filed Dec. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 779,487

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-240) The object of this invention is to produce an improved, folding, shelf-supporting bracket and folding table leg support.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompaniyng drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an explode perspective view of a folding bracket embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the manner of assemblin the bracket from the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the bracket in the assembled, operative position.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the bracket in folded, or inoperative position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, sectional view taken on line 5-5 on Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an end elevational view looking in the direction of line 6-6 on Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view takenon line 7--7 on Fig. 4.

As best shown in Fig. 1, the bracket of my invention includes a fixed, channel shaped, rigid supporting member 10, a movable, supporting member 12 and a separable supporting member 14, which is adapted to carry a shelf 16.

The upper end of supporting member is provided with olfset side wings 18 and with a sleeve 20. Supporting member 12 is provided with identical, similarly offset side wings 22 and with sleeves 24. A pintle 26 is engageable with sleeves 2t) and 24 movably to connect members 10 and 12 together. Fixed member 10 is provided with holes 28 for the passage of screws, not shown, which fasten member 10 to a wall 30 or other support. The side margins of separable supporting member 14 are turned in to form channels 32 for slidably and detachably engaging side wings 18 and 22.

To assemble the parts, member 12 is hinged to member 10 and member 10 is secured to a wall or other support 30 so that the parts will assume the position shown in Figs. 4 and 7. Side channels 32 of member 14 are now engaged with side wings 22 and member 14 is moved, relative to member 12 until edge 38 of member 14 is flush with edge 39 of member 12, Figs. 4 and 7. Member 12 is now raised to its horizontal position in which side wings 22 are in alignment with side wings 18 of member 10. At this point, member 14, which is longer than member 12, is moved to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3, to cause the left end portions of channels 32 to engage side wings 18 of fixed member 10. The simultaneous engagement of channels 32 with side Wings 18 of fixed member 30 and with side wings 22 of movable member 12, retains member 12 in the horizontal position of Figs. 3 and 5. Supporting member 14 is provided with holes 34 for receiving screws 36 for securing shelf 16 to supporting member 14 before, or after, member 12 is hinged to member 10.

When it is desired to fold, or collapse the bracket to the position shown in Fig. 4, member 14 is moved to the right, as viewed in Figs. 3 and 5, until edge 38 of the slide member clears the edge 40 of supporting member 10. In this position, channels 32 no longer engage side wings 18 and movable member 12 automatically drops to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 7. In order to prevent member 14 from falling off member 12 when the latter is in the position of Figs. 4 and 7, I provide one end of member 12 with a stop 42 which is adapted to engage a stop 44 at the opposite end of the underside of member 14 to limit the movement of member 14 relative to member 12.

It will be noted that member 12 is supported in cantilever fashion by member 14 exclusively and without the use of braces or other expedients.

In the show cases of industrial establishments and in homes, shelves are sometimes out of use, or are frequently re-arranged, or replaced. By my invention, and if the shelf is not needed, member 14 can be Wholly detached from member 12 so as to leave nothing but the unobtrusive member 12 hanging close to supporting member 10 as shown in Fig. 4. If it is only desired to change shelves, member 12 and the shelf carried thereby can be removed as a unit or the shelf can be detached from the slide member and another shelf can be fastened in place thereof.

While I have shown and described the invention as applied to shelving, it is to be understood that the folding bracket disclosed is equally applicable for connecting table legs and other devices, the invention residing in the folding structure of the bracket, as shown in Fig. 7, and the manner in which engagement of slide 14 with the bracket, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, erects the bracket to its horizontal supporting position, as shown in Fig. 5.

What I claim is:

1. A folding bracket including a fixed supporting member having offset side wings, a movable supporting member having similar olfset side wings, a hinge connecting said fixed and movable supporting members whereby the juxtaposed ends of the side Wings of said fixed and movable members Will be free and whereby said movable member will be movable to a first position in which its side wings will be in alignment with the side wings of said fixed member and to a second position in which the side wings of said movable member will be angularly spaced from the side wings of said fixed member, a separable supporting member detachably engageable with the side wings of said movable supporting member and movable into engagement with the side wings of said fixed supporting member to retain said movable supporting member in alignment with said fixed supporting member.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 and a stop at the free end of said movable supporting member to limit movement of said separable supporting member relative to said movable supporting member in one direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 88,631 Hawse Apr. 6, 1869 859,454 Larsson July 9, 1907 FOREIGN PATENTS 65,928 Norway Mar. 15, 1943 394,094 Great Britain June 22, 1933 

